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Singapore math basically it is about using the concept of the Model Method (MM) to solve math problems. Through MM, a student learns the skills and heuristic of solving problems, mainly the skills of analysis, synthesis and application. These skills prepare students for higher learning of math. With the necessary skills, students will be able to learn trigonometry, statistics, calculus without much difficulties! The MM just provides the learners with basic foundation in learning math and pre-algebra. When an abstract problem becomes visual, it will alleviate the fear of learning math. This concept makes math easy.
I am a math teacher and an educator from Singapore. I teach Singapore Math. I will be glad to answer your queries regarding teaching and learning of Singapore math.
I am a math teacher and an educator from Singapore. I teach Singapore Math. I will be glad to answer your queries regarding teaching and learning of Singapore math.
How familiar are you with the American education system, particularly in how math is taught here? I'm curious if it would be possible to incorporate some aspects and methods of Singapore Math into math teaching without implementing the whole Singapore Math system? Most states here have fairly strict standards and educators have little freedom to choose how they teach (most are usually told to follow the textbook and its methods), so now I'm curious if there are ways to use bits and pieces of Singapore Math to help students learn important and difficult concepts while not straying too far from the textbook?
Our elementary school is attempting to implement part of Singapore Math (problem-solving only) this year. Our district follows a very canned curriculum (CSCOPE) overall and we are required to use that, but we are also supposed to use the Singapore model drawing process as well when working on word problems. It does not work with all problems (for example, on a recent district benchmark, the Singapore specialist our principal hired determined that only 8 of the 28 or so problems could have been solved using Singapore), but works quite well when applicable. The Thinking Blocks website demonstrates how to use the various models to solve problems. Our main problem is that many of the kids can use the models to help them figure out which operation to use, but they don't have the basic skills (such as addition with regrouping, 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication, etc.) and/or the stamina to solve them. It is a work in progress, though, and I can see the benefit if it is actually used throughout the school.
Hearin about all this advanced math in early years makes me wonder how we got to the moon in 1969, with slide rules and high school math something like alg1, trig, alg2, and geo. hum...
Hearin about all this advanced math in early years makes me wonder how we got to the moon in 1969, with slide rules and high school math something like alg1, trig, alg2, and geo. hum...
We did not get to the moon with high school math. Those who engineered it got through college. Slide rules were a tool, but even back then we did use computers. Note that the Apollo computer was NOT a general purpose computer, however. It was designed for a simple task.
As a matter of fact, John Glenn flew his spacecraft to earth orbit without any onboard computer whatsoever. Yet the trajectory was precisely controlled, and his capsule could have operated completely automatically if necessary. (In fact, the original design called for it to be completely automated, but the astronauts demanded the ability to pilot the capsule.)
There was, of course, mathematics behind the moon landing
In order to determine the path that the Apollo spacecraft would take in its journey from the earth to the moon, NASA scientists had to come up with a new solution for a difficult mathematical problem, called the three-body problem, that had been studied for more than 300 years by a number of famous mathematicians, including Euler, Lagrange and Poincare. [...]
Using a computer, [Arenstorf] solved a special case of the three-body problem that provided the mission with the information it needed. His solution consisted of a set of closed figure-eight trajectories that pass arbitrarily close to two celestial objects. These are now known as “Arenstorf Periodic Orbits.†In 1966, he was given the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement for his contribution.
We did not get to the moon with high school math. Those who engineered it got through college. Slide rules were a tool, but even back then we did use computers. Note that the Apollo computer was NOT a general purpose computer, however. It was designed for a simple task.
What I addressed was high school math curriculum taken by the engineers and scientist, not that we got to the moon with high school math. C'mon, you can follow along better than that.
OBTW, even into the early 80's, the UYK-20 computer was used on some navy intel systems. That was essentially the Apollo computer-- about the size of a large dorm refrigerator.
The high school math curriculum taken by most of those who became engineers and scientists was more advanced than that of the general high school population
Please note the percentages of students who took, algebra I, geometry and algebra II/trig
In 1909 to 1910, 56.9% of high school students took Algebra I, 30.9% took geometry and 1.9% took trig.
In 1954 to 1955, only 24.8% of the high school students took Algebra I, 11.4% took geometry and 2.6% took trig.
More kids now take courses *named* algebra and geometry and trig, but I contend that less content is actually taught in these classes. Algebra II is sometimes just Algebra I.
I hear a lot about Singapore Math, but it's really hard for me to fully grasp what it constitutes, or how it's different, because there do not seem to be a lot of free resources on the internet. I'm particularly curious about where it falls along the traditional math------constructivist math continuum, and I'd also like to know how this might be used in a classroom to supplement district-issued textbooks and resources. And if there's anything else you can tell me about Singapore Math or how it works in your experience (especially for students that have been taught math using other methods), I'd love to hear it!
How familiar are you with the American education system, particularly in how math is taught here? I'm curious if it would be possible to incorporate some aspects and methods of Singapore Math into math teaching without implementing the whole Singapore Math system? Most states here have fairly strict standards and educators have little freedom to choose how they teach (most are usually told to follow the textbook and its methods), so now I'm curious if there are ways to use bits and pieces of Singapore Math to help students learn important and difficult concepts while not straying too far from the textbook?
I am not familiar with the American education system. However, as far as I know, in Singapore, we teach all math the same way as it is taught anywhere else. The only thing different is, there is this Model Method that our experts have discovered and find it useful in helping children at elementary level, to visualize math problems with concrete objects such as simple box diagrams. The Model Method is applicable to teaching of topics such as fractions, ratios, proportion, percentage relating to time, measurement, money etc. You certainly can incorporate some aspects into your math teaching without implementing the whole Singapore Math system.
Last edited by toobusytoday; 01-12-2013 at 06:26 AM..
Reason: Sorry, but asking people for their e-mail could be considered solicting.
I would recommend you use one of their supplements, process skills, to your existing curriculum. It really sharpens their understanding of the principles of algebra.
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